: Fly Me To The Moon The latest page in the book I am writing for my infant grandson. It’s a bespoke book, full of …
: Another one bites the dust And now Earlham doesn’t have a philosophy major anymore. TBH, I don’t care that much about whether …
: Reading Xenophon’s Agesilaos on Maundy Thursday Reading Xenophon’s encomium to Agesilaos this morning. His words seem to arise out of a love for …
: So much depends on how I hold the brush Ever since I was young I have found that during lectures I take better notes and pay better …
: What I Want For Them In my teaching I do want my students to gain skills that will help them get jobs and earn a living. …
: Gravel and Devotion As a stonemason and landscape designer I have long been opposed to visible gravel. My childhood was …
: "What Are You Learning?" I recently offered my students a “quiz” in which I asked them three simple questions, …
: Sound Learning, New Discovery, and The Pursuit of Wisdom “Colleges and universities that are dedicated to liberal arts ideals have three fundamental …
: One of the great rewards of teaching is when I spend time with a student who is struggling with a …
: Prairie chicken on hay rake. I took this photo at the Prairie Winds Birding Tours run by the Hubbard family just west of Kearney, …
: A few pages from my nature journal this weekend.
: Birding in NE with Laws and Tan Im in Nebraska this weekend, birding and nature journaling with John Muir Laws and Amy Tan. The …
: Pencil miles and sandhill cranes Getting in some “pencil miles” before heading out to look for cranes this weekend. My thanks to the …
: Somehow, today I will muscle through jet lag and teach great texts by both Mozi and José Martí in …
: Teaching in Greece My classrooms last week. It’s a pretty good job. As a professor of philosophy, religions, classics, …
: Sitting at MSP hoping to fly home after a week of teaching in Greece. Here’s a photo as evidence …
: 道 I’ve been requiring my students to take notes on paper for our classical Asian philosophies class. …
: Building Benches Another page from my notebook. This one is a dream page of some trail furniture I have built and …
: Herodotus in my Pocketbook I carry notebooks with me everywhere. Sometimes they’re for new thoughts. Often they’re for very old …
: A friend who has meant a lot to me over the years recently posted a photo of himself. I took some …
: Dewi Sant Happy St David’s Day! Mom used to call us all on March 1 to remind us of our ancestry. She would …
: Brothers Working on drawing people, especially hands, faces, and motion. After a recent wrestling event on …
: Today’s shelfie. Lots of meetings, fewer books.
: My day in books. Today’s shelfie.
: Asphodel in Tiryns One more morning Greece-themed sketch: asphodel flower. (Asphodelus ramosus) I photographed this one …
: Delphi Treasury Part of my morning discipline: get a little better at sketching and painting every day. I’ll be …
: Contemplation Cal Newport asks, in the Chronicle of Higher Education, whether email is making professors stupid. …
: Dorothea, and you, and me Here are the final words of Middlemarch, words I have often returned to: “Her finely-touched spirit …
: Often when we write — and especially when we write by hand, the slow work of pen on paper — words …
: Today’s shelfie. Books that came off the office shelves for the purpose of teaching and in …
: Sent a book manuscript to my publisher today and it feels really good. Now on to the next book!
: The Deer Mouse, The Mountain, and The Road to Mastery Deer mouse on our bird feeder yesterday, and sketched in my journal. The mouse-sketch came after …
: For the Grandchildren Each week I try to write something in the books I am making for my grandchildren. Sometimes I tell …
: A morning corvid sketch. I once asked someone named Crow how they got their name. They replied “It’s …
: Teachers, Journalists, Lawyers History shows that democracy is not protected by military strength. States? Sure. But not democracy …
: Study Abroad Journals Yesterday I met with two colleagues to plan courses abroad for the coming academic year. In all my …
: More birds A few more birds to finish out the day. Gullor 616 Iridium on Strathmore toned tan paper. I started …
: Pen, from the Latin for “feather” Sketched more birds today, mostly trying to learn to recognize the differences between Sharp-shinned …
: Does anyone read them? Today I have written half a dozen letters of recommendation for my students. I know these students …
: Three swallows do not make a spring Last night’s idle paintings of barn swallows. Trying to capture their movement and to get a sense of …
: Amy Grant’s new song In which two philosophy professors, a pastor, and a folk musician talk about Amy Grant: …
: The Writing Gym As I am preparing the MS for my next book, a friend reminded me of when she interviewed me a few …
: Sunrise with plum tree Sunrise with plum tree. -6°F this morning, with clear skies.
: Blue Jay This morning’s bird. Quick sketch from a photo I took last summer, with Winsor & Newton …
: Practice makes…slightly better Today I returned to the same photo of a house wren that I have sketched before. One sketch I did …
: Locked in to SaaS, but for how long? So much of the software we use at my uni seems worse than it was just a few years ago: slower, …
: You are worth more than many sparrows One more morning sparrow, also with the new Daniel Smith watercolors my daughter gave me. As I paint …
: A gift from my daughter This morning’s bird. My daughter bought me a set of Daniel Smith watercolors for Christmas — a far …
: Killdeer. Finishing my day with another bird from our campus. Two different sketches from the same …
: One bird at a time Last weekend I took a group of high school students for a nature walk through one of our state …
: Long-billed curlew. This one was from a grainy photo taken at long distance in poor light. It was …
: All Flourishing Is Mutual Wilson’s Phalarope - one of my morning sketches. One day in 2020 a friend who had spoken in my …
: Bicycles. This is another aspect of the wild life of my state. Pringle, South Dakota.
: Pronghorn Slowly working through the fauna of my state, and as I sketch each one I am trying to look more …
: Woodpecker sketches A few more bird sketches to round out the day. Spent part of my morning at Good Earth State Park …
: Not the chickadee I think I see Each sketch is practice for the next one. None of them are perfect, each of them is a small …
: Next week I will be leading an online discussion of Plato’s Symposium. I had this planned for …
: What Art Makes In an age when it is easy to make art digitally or mechanically, I am making more art than before …
: Slippery slope I fear that having taken up sketching and watercolor painting I might soon find myself making …
: Little by little my students and I are trying to turn our university campus into a living …
: Justice and Power Something I wrote recently about how important it is to treat others justly when we are in power. I …
: Morning bird This morning’s bird. Early this morning I dropped off a colleague at the airport. He’s about to …
: It begins in wonder Letting my day begin with wonder. When I’m not teaching, I’m trying to learn more. When I am …
: Downy woodpecker contemplates the branch Morning practice. Little by little I’d like to sketch and paint all the wildlife on my university …
: Studies in Kingfishers This morning my wife pointed out a belted kingfisher down by the river. It was perched over one of …
: Kingfisher. We saw this on our walk down by the river this morning. There is not a lot of open …
: Cardinal, perched on a branch by the river I read the morning news during breakfast, and I read some of what St John wrote on Patmos after …
: Bird Went for a walk down by the river this morning and saw this large bald eagle fly past me and then …
: Female wood duck. Still working on proportions. Fun practice!
: A little better every day New year, new bird. I’ve photographed many animals on my campus over the years. Today’s sketch is …
: Tell Me More! Very often kind colleagues, friends, and family members will send me a text or an email with a link …
: Blue birds near home A study in color and detail of two birds I can find not too far from where I live. One of them, the …
: Hide It In Your Heart Do yourself a favor and memorize something beautiful in 2026. Even better: make it something …
: Another nuthatch This one is a white-breasted nuthatch I photographed in the Good Earth State Park near Sioux Falls …
: Sharing the Birds The other day a visiting alum asked me about my nature journaling practice. I told him about the …
: Even the furricane rests sometimes. He has had a busy morning being climbed on by my granddaughter. …
: Seeing the world in my neighbor This morning I had breakfast with an alum who is in grad school. He loves his studies but is also …
: Majoring in Business? The most popular undergraduate major in the country is Business. Which means that if you’re a …
: Little Big Things Today I took a little time to thank people for good work they’re doing. They were all doing “little …
: Brothers better than gold “How much better it is to have many brothers than it is to have a lot of money. For money stirs up …
: Despite having just completed a sabbatical year, I find myself wishing I had more time to learn new …
: What is school for, anyway? One of the peculiarities of our time is we don’t agree on the purpose of school. So we often aim for …
: What do the mice know? After a semester of teaching my environmental philosophy course outdoors and requiring my students …
: I wrote this poem over a decade ago. I would like it if it did not feel so perennial.
: Whither College? In a college religion class we studied the history of universities in the United States. Most of …
: Today’s entry in the book I am writing for my granddaughter includes a sketch of one of the mice I …
: Celestial Observations From a student report, in a class where I require them to do astronomical observations: “I …
: I regret updating to IOS 26.1. I think Apple meant well but my screen is so much busier now, and the …
: Socrates annoys even modern students, by refusing to tell us what justice is. Instead, he asks …
: At the end of our exam yesterday my students applauded my course in ancient and medieval philosophy. …
: Unvisited Tombs In my last year of college I signed up for a course on the early English novel. In the first week …
: Peace Candle. A meditation with ballpoint pen and pocket notebook before church began on Sunday, the …
: You’ve Got Mail In class yesterday I told my students that I’ll pay the postage to mail a copy of their final …
: One of the family cats. A quick sketch in between grading philosophy papers.
: Gardening What We Believe A student in my How To Live Well (Intro to Philosophy) class commented on his final reflection that …
: Wrestling Some quick sketches in my pocket notebook from yesterday’s wrestling meet at my …
: Thucydides on Justice and War “For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious pretenses—either of how we have a right to …
: “Observe your laws, through which especially you have become great.” – Euryptolemus, in …
: “Kallikratidas, annoyed by the delay and angered by his unsuccessful visits to Cyrus, said …
: Scholarship and a Love of Nature Reading Andrew Ziminski’s words about the Celts of Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland, and their “thin …
: Reflecting on Values This week I’m reading the final reflections for my intro to philosophy class. I asked students …
: Plans Today I resolve to be as ruthful, gruntled, and chalant as possible. Possibly also kempt and …
: “The story, not information, is what we inhabit.” Alison Hawthorne Deming, Writing the Sacred Into …
: Own Your Attention “Experts are trying to commodify your attention. Sketching is a revolutionary act [of owning …
: “What Doesn’t Feel Tame?” I told a friend about a potentially career-boosting move I’ve recently made. Since it would change …
: Prairie Sages About ten years ago my wife and I, with the help of a few anonymous colleagues, started an endowment …
: Woke up to WhatsApp voicemail from the mother of one of my students. She lives in a small country on …
: This semester I’ve had more students talking about how important their faith is to them than I …
: The Sound of Philosophy Last summer Travis Entenman and Lori Walsh interviewed me for their “Rivers and Rangelands” podcast. …
: Buy My Books, Please In an act of shameless self-promotion I’ll let you know that if you want to read my best nature …
: How To Live Well Students in my “How To Live Well” class have been presenting their reflections to one …
: Today's Shelfies Today’s shelfies. Fewer conversations with students, deeper reading. Good books make good company …
: Academy, Business, Charity, Mission It was a college class on religion that taught me about the history of academia in the United …
: Also reading Parker Palmer’s A Hidden Wholeness. I enjoyed his Let Your Life Speak, and am reading …
: As a senior in college I started to read Middlemarch. I found back then that it was a book that …
: One of my students mentioned summitting Kilimajaro as a life goal in her term paper draft. I …
: Chance In between editing chapters of my next book and commenting on student papers, I’m pondering …
: Next up: a private group discussion on the Peloponnesian War. We’ve been at this for over a year …
: Taught my students about Maimonides today and they had such good questions. Classes like that one …
: Office Shelves and Optionality A photo of part of my office. My office is of course a place for me to do my work of teaching, …
: Giraffe silhouette. Sioux Falls Zoo and Aquarium. A fine place to walk with my son and his wife and …
: Shelfie Shelfie. (The books that come off my shelves while having conversations with students in my office.) …
: Sketching owls. This helps me know the owls better. Also having fun experimenting with different …
: The Kids Are Alright Today I had one of the best days of teaching I’ve had in a long time. I’m worn out and …
: Taught twenty students how to make Adirondack chairs today. It was part of a class taught by our …
: Watercolor Gifts At lunch today a friend gave me a watercolor set. He said when he saw it he knew he had to buy it …
: Pipe Organ Pipe organs are one of my favorite instruments. Unlike most other musical instruments, these are …
: Music of the Spheres Last night’s Aurora Borealis display shifted all my social media to photos of crimson ribbons across …
: Symbiosis, Timeframes, and Benefit This morning I spoke to a nature writing class at Middlebury College. The class is about rivers, so …
: The Humanities, The Common Good, and Immediate Needs The U.S. has an abundance of good colleges and universities. Many, facing budgetary challenges, …
: Snowflakes A page in one of the books I am writing for my grandchildren. One of them saw snow for the first …
: Serviceberries in my garden, yesterday and today. Today my garden got its first blanket of snow.
: Teaching outdoors Scenes from this morning’s Environmental Philosophy class. We read some Plato, some Henry Bugbee, a …
: Moses watches the chapel renovation A morning sketch and watercolor of the view outside my office window. I used this to teach my …
: The (Textbook) Rent Is Too High Looking at the cost of informal logic / critical thinking textbooks for my students next spring and …
: A link to my (unfortunately paywalled) article on Medium about religion and robots. Also for my …
: A link to my article on what I saw at NeurIPS last year. Putting it here to make it easier for my …
: Today’s sketch, made while listening to a lecture. Decided to try drawing my own hands, my pen, and …
: My wife recognizes the subject so I feel pretty good about this portrait.
: A page of single-line sketches Some single-line sketches from the past few days. I carry this notebook with me almost everywhere …
: Today’s shelfie. These are books I used in teaching today. Your challenge is to guess what I teach.
: Shelfie. These are books that I’ve brought to class this week or have pulled off the office shelves …
: Myths as Containers of Insight “Like a woven basket or a clay pot, a story is a container. It provides a shape for holding …
: The longer I’ve taught philosophy the more strongly I believe that it is a mistake to teach it …
: Litany of Joys Some of today’s delights: Chance meeting with a friend I haven’t seen in years, and who …
: One of the highlights of my week: singing a lullaby to my grandson in harmony with my son.
: Prairie chicken sketch in my notebook. Sitting at a conference session today I decided to sketch something from memory. Feeling pretty good …
: Today’s breakfast sketch: Hell’s Kitchen I have two notebooks open in front of me as I eat slowly. One is a sketchbook, one is lined paper. …
: 20 Minute Pallet Bench My philosophy student and I made a garden bench by salvaging a long pallet from the trash on campus. …
: Sketch: Hope Breakfast Bar Quick sketch while waiting for some friends to arrive for breakfast in Minneapolis. The cards on the …
: My grandson is sleeping so I am trying to figure out how to sketch bison. Hopefully by the time he’s …
: Sketching insects I’ve seen this week.
: Two Central American Butterflies I’ve been watching the butterflies here at home slowly vanish from the landscape as the days grow …
: Pocket notebook When I was a boy Dad worked for IBM, and he carried one of these notebooks in his pocket most of the …
: Really loving this pen my daughter gave me when she finished law school. Loving it so much that I …
: “The best maxim in writing, perhaps, is really to love your reader for his own sake.” Charles S. …
: Badlands fauna for Felix One more page in the books for my grandchildren. I’m trying to document the beautiful things I see, …
: Meadowlark for Claire. Part of the book I am writing for my infant granddaughter, documenting the …
: More Badlands Bison Decided to add one more bison to the sketch page. This one is from a photo I took in the Badlands in …
: Single-line sketch: Badlands Bison Bison grazing in Badlands National Park. This is an experiment with single-line drawing. The whole …
: To call them “badlands” is an injustice to just how good they are. Bison grazing on tableland in the …
: Twenty Years At Sage Creek It’s a good time to revisit my poem “Sage Creek,” which I wrote a decade ago about an annual trip I …
: Went camping in Badlands National Park with my students last night. Even though it was partly …
: I think it will always be the case that the gold we accumulate will show a reflection not of our …
: A friend brought his journal to coffee to show me what he did while hiking the Camino de Santiago …
: Blessings There is no one on whom I do not wish God’s blessing. But sometimes my prayers are that some would …
: Another morning thought: academic specialization can be immensely productive, but so often the …
: Small arrangements Thinking this morning about a few themes: Times when a small group of people in a small place make …
: My son’s dogs. Seemed a fitting portrait since I’ve already sketched my daughter’s dog and my other …
: Wonder journaling: mussels and ladybugs As my students work on their wonder journals, I’m working on mine as well. One is about freshwater …
: My son asked me to watch his cats while he is traveling so I sat and watched them and painted their …
: Late bloomers I keep thinking I’m done seeing more butterflies then I come home and find three more species I …
: More lady beetles One more photo, for comparison. This shows an introduced Asian lady beetle (left) next to a native …
: Lady Beetle Update to my Lady Beetles post: today I brought a better macro lens and got a photo of one of the …
: Fear Journals and Wonder Journals This fall I have asked my Environmental Philosoohy students to make fear/wonder journals. The big …
: Rapture in the Garden If there is to be a rapture or a second coming, I’d like Christ to find me at work in the garden, …
: Five Points Experimenting with perspective and five vanishing points. Lately I’ve wished I studied art in …
: Wonder Journal: agapostemon bee 🐝 Yesterday’s wonder journal sketch of an agapostemon bee. This was a good casual exercise at the end …
: Today’s Insects 🦋🐝 A few more insects from this morning’s run at the state park and from my quick perusal of my …
: Agapostemon bee on aster. This is a wonderful time of year, when the asters put out their …
: Lady beetles Lady beetles on campus today. Came across two Siberian elm trees (I think that’s what they are but …
: Sitting in the garden, coffee in the shade, the birds singing, the low hum of bees abuzz, the Wild …
: Cutting down the cattails This week my environmental philosophy class (which meets outdoors) has been studying the campus pond …
: Note for a longer essay: Students often complain that Plato is annoying and does not give clear …
: Jalysus sketch I see them all over my biennial bee blossom plants, and on the nicotiana rustica as well. But even …
: A few native plants in a square-meter garden by the sidewalk have become a roadside banquet in a …
: I wish I could assign more books, and that my students and I had more time to sit quietly to discuss …
: "Measure What Matters" Not everything needs to be measured. And sometimes the measuring changes the situation. In education …
: Reading Thucydides Last year I led an online discussion of Thucydides. It stopped when I got busy with other pursuits. …
: Pensées Thoughts as I prepare for today’s classes: Philosophy occurs everywhere. Sometimes we notice …
: Wonder journal: cup plant Today’s wonder journal page. Do the leaves of a cup plant (silphium perfoliatum) give it any …
: Turkey Vultures This morning as I taught my environmental philosophy class in one of the campus gardens the students …
: Lots of teachers feeling stress these days. But you know what’s great about teaching? Watching …
: Heron Heron on Skunk Creek in Sioux Falls yesterday. I painted it this afternoon from a photo I took …
: The Love of Wisdom Begins in Wonder Part of my “wonder journal” — a practice I am asking my environmental philosophy students to engage …
: Two herons in Sioux Falls yesterday. Blue heron at Skunk Creek, green heron at Covell Lake.
: Wild Four O’Clock (Mirabilis nyctaginea) A quick sketch while having coffee with a colleague in a …
: The last generation of monarch butterflies is passing through. My garden is full of them feasting on …
: Ten More Years Ten years ago today an accident nearly killed me. This morning I’m reflecting on a how grateful I am …
: Vanessa cardui (painted lady) butterfly in my garden when I got home today.
: Agapostemon bee on Aster flowers in the campus prairie restoration garden this morning.
: Prairie seeds Walked some ditches in an especially rural part of our very rural state last week, and filled my …
: African Philosophies Two recent book purchases. Curiosity and wonder are not limited by geography. Philosophy springs up …
: College Weekend Arrived at my office to find that one of my students had dropped off a copy of their handwritten …
: Invertebrate Neighbors J.B.S. Haldane famously quipped that if he learned anything about religion from his biological …
: Life is more than employment When we make education about employment, we neglect all the parts of life that are not employment. …
: Threeridge mussel, interior view Interior view of the same shell as the previous sketch. Last year I completed the Freshwater Mussel …
: Threeridge Mussel Morning sketch: Amblema Plicata, one of the common mussels in the Midwest. There are about 300 …
: Late Summer Blossoms Fireworks in my garden. Native prairie plants in my garden. Autumn is coming soon, but the blossoms …
: Mussel Sketch Sketching at my desk this morning, from a photo I took while looking for mussels in a nearby …
: Bumble Flower Beetles (Eurphoria Inda) on my Cup Plant (Silphium Perfoliatum). The plant is ten feet …
: Fishing Yesterday a student asked me to supervise her honors project. She has learned fly-fishing and wants …
: What a delight it is to be thankful for the little things. This is so easy for me to forget, but …
: American Rubyspot (Hetaerina Americana, male) damselfly. Sept 1, 2025. Beaver Creek Nature Area, …
: I told my Environmental Philosophy students we would be meeting outdoors all semester, except when …
: One of the many things I’d like to do today if today were infinitely long is to write a paper about …
: I bought more buttons at the flea market yesterday. Buttons from an old farm, most of them with the …
: Eighty years since the end of WWII, and the older I get the more I realize how little I understand …
: Mussels and Shirt Buttons Morning sketch: a freshwater mussel shell that was drilled to make shirt buttons, and a few buttons …
: Environmental Philosophy Nature Journaling I’m requiring my students to keep nature journals based on what they see on our campus, so I am …
: Back to School After a yearlong sabbatical I head back to the classroom today. This year has been a great gift, and …
: Sketching and Thinking Morning sketch of a unionid mussel I found on the bank of the Big Sioux River earlier this year. …
: Cicadas for Claire Drawing cicadas for my granddaughter. As part of today’s entry in the book I’m writing for my …
: Learning the Bees 90% of the 20,000 or so species of bees in the world are solitary. Most of them are not interested …
: Nature Journaling for Felix This morning I found a bunch of leaves covered with galls. Galls are interesting, and they often …
: Favorite Bookstores What’s a brick-and-mortar bookstore you rarely visit without buying something? If you know what …
: Giving away my pencils Spent last night in Moab, so I spent this morning at Arches National Park. It wasn’t busy, so I …
: On my way out of the National Forest last night I had the road to myself — to myself and the cattle …
: Yesterday on my drive from Las Vegas to Moab I stopped in Fishlake National Forest to see Pando, the …
: Wild Wonder Spent the last week at a Wild Wonder nature journaling workshop in the Sierra Nevada – a last …
: In Boise tonight, and I have two new recommendations for places to eat and drink and find books.
: Visiting two alums and their newborn in Montana. Last night we babysat so the young parents could go …
: Sabbatical Reflection My sabbatical is coming to an end soon, but not before I take one more class. I’ll be joining a Wild …
: Bumblebee on purple prairie clover.
: So often critiques of higher education complain about overpaid teachers who corrupt the youth. I’d …
: Met with some other faculty yesterday for a “shut up and write” session at a local pub. The deal: we …
: This morning I’m feeling thankful for the adults who bought me books when I was a child. At the time …
: Immerse Yourself In Your Own System To Find The Friction It is good to be home again after traveling for over a month. My wife and I are both on sabbatical, …
: Scotland Sketchbook And with this I come to the last pages of my current sketchbook. Here are two photos showing the …
: Glenmorangie Distillery and Oyster Bed Restoration in Dornoch Firth Spending a few days in Tain, Scotland this week to learn about the Dornoch Environmental Enhancement …
: A last page of sketches and notes from Sweden. 🎨
: Finished another page in my watercolor sketchbook. Here ya go, with images and some reflections …
: Anundshög Visited some of my wife’s family in Västerås, Sweden, this week, which gave us a chance to visit the …
: The travel sketchbook grows. We have moved on to Sweden, so I’m sketching a few photos from …
: Last sketches from Oslo Here are a few more sketches from our trip to Oslo. I was especially interested in the buildings …
: My travel sketching kit. Details are in my previous post, but sometimes a picture is worth more than …
: Oslo Art More sketches from Oslo. I added a page from a day we spent walking around Vigeland Park and the …
: Two days in Oslo. I take a lot of photos while traveling, but the images I remember best are often …
: Sketches from the Omega Institute 🎨📝 A few sketches from the Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop last week. The workshop was held at …
: Daily Sketch 📝🎨🦋🪳 Daily sketch. Actually, this is one of several daily sketches from yesterday, since I had a lot of …
: A note to my students 📚🤖🌱⛺️🏛️⚖️ Dear Students, This spring I have been thinking about how best to welcome you to my classrooms this …
: Rain for Claire 📝🎨 Today’s entry in the book I’m writing for my infant granddaughter. I want to share stories with my …
: Herons on the Big Sioux River this morning.
: Strawberries and mice for Felix 🎨📝🍓🐁 Every few days, I make new entries in the books I am writing for my grandchildren, both of them born …
: “As you sow, so shall you reap.” It is easy to imagine what we want to reap, and to assume that what we are sowing will lead to that …
: Letters to my Grandchildren Every few days I add to the journals I am keeping for my newborn grandchildren. My two oldest kids …
: Mother wood duck and some of her ducklings in the campus pond.
: POV: you’re a bee small enough to get lost inside a dandelion. Hylaeus bees (I think this is one of …
: Word on the street. (Technically, words on the footbridge over Beaver Creek near Brandon, South …
: What has it got in its pocketses? Some of my sketching EDC, in two photos.
: The bigger your org, the greater the chance that there’s someone in your org who keeps things …
: One of the few newsletters I read every week comes from this guy, @jthingelstad …
: Graduation today. I’m gonna miss a lot of these kids.
: Postscript to my previous post: “Have you pen and ink, Master Doctor?” “A scholar is never without …
: Blue Books, Journals, and Letters to the Future For many years, two of my favorite teaching tools have been oral exams and handwritten journals. …
: More on Urban Prairie Gardens Since I got a lot of kind and helpful replies to my post about Growing Urban Prairie Gardens, I …
: Father and Son My art is far from perfect but I’m pretty sure my new grandson, born yesterday, is perfect. Here’s a …
: Minneapolis Flânerie One more page from my walking-around-Minneapolis sketchbook yesterday. It was cold and windy so my …
: Robin’s nest under the back deck. I love this time of year.
: Minneapolis urban sketches Spent part of my morning walking the streets of Minneapolis. As is my custom, I brought along a …
: Bush Fellowship Retreat Just wrapped up a retreat in Minneapolis with my cohort of 2024 Bush Fellows. A year into this …
: How to grow a prairie garden in the city Since a lot of people ask me how to grow native prairie plants or how to replace urban lawns with …
: Every month or so I take time to write down all the “wins” I have had. They can be quite small, but …
: A letter to my granddaughter While my granddaughter sleeps I am making a journal for her to read someday, with stories about her …
: Added some color to this morning’s sketch. I like the auto-generated alt text: A person with glasses …
: This morning’s sketch-in-progress of my daughter and my granddaughter. I love the way they look, …
: Under this tree Inatead of posting photos of my newborn granddaughter to the internet I’m posting a few sketches. …
: Wild Mile in the Chicago River Went for a run this morning from my daughter’s house over to the Wild Mile at Goose Island in …
: Grow more than grass An article in The Christian Century about the new Episcopal Grasslands Network, and the gathering we …
: A reminder that I am not God There are many reasons not to believe in a God, and I don’t disparage those who don’t share my …
: The Danger of Caring “It’s just so rough here in this country right now. Doing some river fishing to survive.” Mark and I …
: Renewal Springtime. We have been keeping a whiteboard in our kitchen to track the due dates of our friends …
: “Prairie Prophecy” - New Wes Jackson biopic Really enjoyed the new Wes Jackson biopic, and was thrilled to be able to attend the world premiere …
: If you want to preserve nature, get to know some part of it well. Don’t stop with what you already know, or with the pretty things. Try to find something small and …
: At the premiere of the new Wes Jackson film here in Salina, Kansas.
: The inaugural meeting of the Episcopal Grasslands Network at Grace Cathedral in Topeka, Kansas. Good …
: On Teaching When I read about the ways people who don’t teach fight over what schools should do, I am reminded …
: I just became a grandfather! So thrilled to meet my little granddaughter.
: Planting Trees While Awaiting Resurrection One more highlight came on Holy Saturday, when my wife and I planted fruit trees in our church’s …
: David Chin, and Bach's St John Passion One of the best parts of the week was hearing the amazing David Chin conduct Bach’s St John Passion …
: Big Sioux Stewardship Summit As part of the Big Sioux River Stewardship Summit I got to tour our new wastewater facility, our …
: Great Talks at the Big Sioux Stewardship Summit; Shout-out to Lori Walsh Some great talks by SDSU President Barry Dunn, Stephanie Arne, Lori Walsh of South Dakota Public …
: Building A Floating Teaching Garden Last week I spent some time building a floating teaching garden with my fellow Friends of the Big …
: Social Media Fast Last week, Holy Week, I (mostly) took a fast from email and social media. It felt great. This week, …
: Pilate, Not Pilates Went looking for sources on the life of Pontius Pilate and the internet kept pointing me towards …
: There's Always More To Learn With each new book I read, I am reminded how little I know.
: Old Books This week our college library is having a used book sale. It’s one of the best events of the …
: Three fingers pointing back at me It’s easy to point out others' sins, much harder to confront my own. I have very little …
: The gift of wonder We live lives of incredible wonder. The universe is constantly revealing new things to us. One gift …
: Melipona Bees, and continuing to learn One of the joys of teaching is continuing to learn. I’ve been teaching about hymenoptera …
: Democracy requires: liberal education unfettered journalism public defenders
: Happy to report that I got a rejection letter from a writing fellowship I applied for. Not happy …
: Make art. It’s good for your soul, your mind, your body. Don’t worry about whether it looks like …
: Two weeks ago an artist I met for the first time told me he uses Rapidograph pens. “Triple zero …
: Contemplation is more than seeing In my hard drives I have half a million photos. The camera opens and closes a little window and …
: Serendipitous sketches Made a few sketches in my journal this weekend. One sketch was after a paragraph about migration to …
: Escoda watercolor brushes At lunch with an artist friend the other day we started talking about watercolors and he told me he …
: Last year I led a private, online discussion of Thucydides. Amazing experience. Thinking of starting …
: New book by Matthew Dickerson This is a lovely book, written by my friend and co-author, Matthew Dickerson, and illustrated by …
: A study of one of the oxbows on the Big Sioux River. I sketched this yesterday from a photo I took …
: My pocket sketchbook Two recent pages from my pocket sketchbook. One is from last week’s trip to the Paha Sapa (Black …
: A little more about Bio-Itzá, by my favorite photographer. Click the video link to hear my late …
: Bio-Itzá: A Great Place to Visit in Guatemala A great place to visit in Guatemala: www.bioitza.org/en I just returned from a weeklong visit there, …
: Faces A few faces from the Paha Sapa (Black Hills) of South Dakota this week. After almost a month of …
: Yessica's Pencils Seven or eight years ago I made a cultural blunder while working in rural Guatemala. When I bring my …
: Sketching with Daniela in Tikal We sat on top of the ruins of a Mayan temple, watching the sun sink towards the western horizon. …
: Dogs. These are my son’s and daughter-in-law’s dogs. They watched us as we said goodnight in the …
: Bumblebees in Patagonia Spent part of February in Aysén, Chile. Kept seeing things that made me want to slow down, like …
: Pelican marine phone case I don’t do much product review anymore (I had an outdoor product review blog 25 years ago when I was …
: I’m between airplanes so this will be brief: check out @jthingelstad and his Weekly Thing. So …
: Left to my own devices on airplanes I often turn off the screen and think about mathematics, …
: Related to my previous post, here’s something I wrote about the time I invited a beggar to lunch. …
: Who is my neighbor? The Good Samaritan story and loving our neighbors. A short piece of my conversation with John Meyer …
: Environmental Writing Now This afternoon several of my alums and I talked about what it means to be an environmental writer …
: If you aren’t subscribed to @jthingelstad ’s newsletter you should check it out. Weekly …
: Pearls Reading this morning about freshwater mussels (surprise!) in four contexts: This short documentary …
: A little more from Leonardo's _A Treatise On Painting_ His first paragraph is itself a work of art, and could be taken as a summary of what a good …
: Prayer to the God of the Sick and Suffering God who suffered with us, Please remember what it was like to be human, Incarnate as a baby Who …
: Reading Leonardo On Painting. So good. For the last year I’ve been intentional about sketching and …
: In case you’re wondering: I’m a philosophy professor who studies religions and liturgies, great …
: Wisdom and folly in all quarters Thinking about this good word by Leibniz: “The majority of the philosophical sects are right in the …
: Another book just arrived in the mail today. Send help. (Help = bookshelves.) Strayer’s Freshwater …
: Who is doing a good job of low-tech freshwater mussel restoration? I like the floating gardens that …
: “Can you eat them?” All of us who study freshwater mussels are eventually asked the same question: “Can you eat them?” …
: Part of my work is to think about little things that we don’t tend to think about very often. This …
: I splurged and bought myself a copy of Wendell Haag’s work on freshwater mussel ecology. Mussels …
: My hometown was full of artists and musicians. It’s funny to look back and remember that I …
: John Meyer interviewed me for his Leadmore Podcast. John’s a great interviewer, and I learn a …
: Recently realized that The Big Pink was a short bike ride from my childhood home outside Woodstock, …
: What’s your role in the story? A helpful tool for reading sacred stories is to read the story, and then to ask where you imagine …
: Teaching Is A Work Of Love It’s a perennial question for legislators and school boards: how should we fund public education? …
: Wise words Today in church we read the story of the Wedding in Cana. It’s a fun and surprising story: Jesus, in …
: When credentials matter more than knowledge and wisdom I recently met a biologist who is one of the world’s experts in his subject area. I found him to be …
: If you still read physical books, let me recommend this book weight — and the St John’s College …
: Really enjoying micro.blog. Thanks to @jthingelstad for getting me started, and to @manton for …
: I Still Believe In an earlier post I wrote about this question people often ask me: “Why are you still …
: Thinking of making a game I’m thinking of making a game that my students can play over a monthlong course in Spain and …
: Word of the Day: Huachicolero/huachicoleo Huachicoleo is modern Mexican slang for fuel theft. A huachicolero is a fuel thief. The words are …
: What's a Mussel Worth? During my sabbatical I’ve been studying freshwater mussels. This is partly because I teach …
: Word of the Day: Stammtisch. Word of the Day: Stammtisch. A Stammtisch is a table for regulars at a coffee shop or restaurant. It …
: Looking forward to a few weeks from now when there are fewer people at the gym.
: Eagles and Swans on the Missouri River We saw a few birds along the Missouri River yesterday. This time of year the bald eagles are …
: Nature journaling with zigzag books Hahnemüle pocket zig-zag books Last year I upped my nature-journaling game by doing daily sketches …
: Sunrise hike along the river this weekend Sunrise hike along the river this weekend here in Sioux Falls. Too beautiful not to share a couple …
: Leading with Authenticity - My latest appearance on John T Meyer’s Leadmore podcast. John has a lot of insightful guests on his podcast, which makes it a huge honor to appear now for …
: Praying for others might be the best change you make in the new year If you want to change your life in the new year, I suggest taking a moment to pray for someone else …
: Plough: Schools for Philosopher-Carpenters A thought-provoking article in Plough Quarterly about schools that teach students how to work with …
: My 4/40 Program Is Still Going Had breakfast with a dear alum this morning at M.B. Haskett, one of the world’s best third places. …
: Why Are You Still Here? Should you be here? (I like roads like this one.) Like my previous post, this one begins with a …
: So, how’s the sabbatical going? This is the third time in my life that I have taken a sabbatical. On average, I’ve taken one about …
: Time for a newsletter? (Note: posts here dated before 2025 are mostly from my old blogspot blog.) I've had this blog for a …
: Why All Saints’ Day Matters To Me Here's a bit from a recent post I wrote and shared on Medium: Who knows? The student in my …
: Poem: Visiting Rowan on Easter Sunday Rowan laughs and smiles, but he is plainly sad. Emma has been gone for a long time now. Beside him, …
: Of Kings and Wars and Gardens Long ago there was a season for war. An ancient text about one of the kings of Israel tells us this: …
: Ideas in progress: David O’Hara on interdisciplinary humanities, sustainability, and bees Ideas in progress: David O'Hara on interdisciplinary humanities, sustainability, and bees …
: How to Make the Most of Studying Abroad A new short article I've published on Medium, about making the most of re-entry after you've studied …
: How I Learned To Love Insects I've just posted this on Medium, with a handful of my favorite insect photos. Crimson Patch …
: Watching the Fish I've been publishing some short pieces on Medium lately. It's a way of doing some quick writing …
: On The Religious Architecture of Water One of my recent articles on Medium. Here's a sample: If you want to know what someone believes, …
: ArcGIS Storymap of Environmental Studies at Augustana Since all my Environmental Studies students learn GIS, I’ve been trying to gain some new …
: IBM Developer and Call For Code It was a delight to work on designing last year's Call For Code challenge with IBM Developer, and …
: IBM’s Call for Code 2021 IBM just released their latest "Call for Code." If you have a team with some coding skills and you …
: Peirce, Religion, and Communities of Inquiry: Jeffrey Howard interviews me for his latest podcast Recently I had the pleasure of talking with Jeffey Howard on his Damn The Absolute! podcast. We …
: Catch Your Breath: A Winter Meditation on Trout - My latest article, in Hothouse My latest publication, a winter meditation on the beauty of brook trout, in Hothouse // Solutions. …
: My Father's Stories Dear Dad, We recently had a conversation about what kind of wisdom comes with age. We’ve both known …
: Of Fish and Forests When people ask me what I do I sometimes reply “I study the relationships between fish and forests.” …
: One Word One Word One word to the finches Who perch on my towering sunflowers, Who fling golden petals, Who …
: John T. Meyer Interviews Me On His Leadmore Podcast John T. Meyer, CEO of Lemonly, is one of the best interviewers I've known. In his Leadmore podcast …
: Environmental Studies At Augustana - My recent interview with Lori Walsh on SD Public Radio We have just launched a new major in Environmental Studies here at Augustana University. This week I …
: Philosophy of Liturgy, and Climate Grief One reason I chose to teach a course in the Philosophy of Liturgy this year was the mounting grief I …
: On Religion And Robots As we use machines to care for other people, we should also care about the principles that guide the …
: Gracias, señora Orza Estimada Sra. Orza, One day when I was in middle school in New York you said to me “You’re good at …
: On Paying Attention To Bear Poop - My recent TEDx talk in Fargo My TEDx talk in Fargo, summer 2019. It's about bear poop, and other things you don't need to know. …
: Commerce, Environmental Attention, and the Liturgical Calendar Bighorn sheep in the Badlands National Park. The animals move together, responding to the land. …
: On Living Imitably Today I hope to spend a little time with a friend, talking over coffee. We're both busy, and we both …
: Perennial Thinking in Education, Ag, and Culture - Lori Walsh interviews Bill Vitek and me on SDPB Last week I had the pleasure of hosting Bill Vitek at Augustana University. Together we taught a …
: Could a Robot Have a Mystical Experience? My latest article, and my first on Medium:Can a Robot Have a Mystical Experience? This is something …
: Ants and Grasshoppers, Wasps and Cicadas When the summer reaches its middle stretch and the temperatures rise the cicadas start to sing their …
: Books Worth Reading OccasionallyI post on this blog a list of books I’ve been reading. It’s a way of sharing what I’ve …
: My Interview With Lori Walsh on South Dakota Public Radio Lori Walsh is a great interviewer, and I'm always glad to be on her "In The Moment" show on SDPB. …
: On Telling Stories Posted for your consideration; words from two authors whose writing I find helpful, followed by a …
: Reason For Hope Nearly every spring term I teach a class called “Theology and Philosophy in Dialogue.” I inherited …
: A Short Story: Mercy For several years friends have been urging me to write a novel during the month of November as part …
: How I Write - A Quick Reply To A Young Writer This morning I came to the office to find an email from a student at another college. They were …
: A Professor's Environmental Humanities Summer Dear Students, Do you know how your professors spend their summers? In a few days I will shift from …
: Bristol Bay and Pebble Mine: Mutual Flourishing or Midas' Touch My latest article on salmon and mining was just published in Ethics, Policy, & Environment. A …
: Contemplation, Conversation, Commentary Education is not one thing. It is not mere memorization, for instance. And it isn’t just training in …
: Teaching Tropical Ecology in Belize and Guatemala Two out of every three January terms my colleague Craig Spencer and I teach a course on tropical …
: Butterflies In My Stomach This week I’ve been helping a student with a lepidoptera project. The project is hers, and she's not …
: Wicked Problems in Environmental Policy When I first started teaching environmental philosophy courses I used anthologies of helpful …
: The Ethics of Automation: Poetry and Robot Priests Philosophy professor Evan Selinger posted a question on Twitter yesterday about whether there are …
: The Trace I Left Behind This summer I spent several weeks in and around Lake Clark National Park doing research on trout, …
: The Sentiment That Invites Us To Pray - Peirce on Prayer and Inquiry "One of Peirce’s ongoing aims was to reconcile religious life with the practice and spirit of …
: Bluejay Linings "Well, look at the silver lining!" An accident two years ago left me with some injuries that …
: What's In A Name? Almanzo Wilder and El Manzoor In her novel Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder tells why her husband was named …
: SPUnK: The Society for the Preservation of Unnecessary Knowledge My brilliant and curious student James Jennings was interviewed by the brilliant and curious Hugh …
: I Want My Religion To Be A Garden Today my ecology advisee and I met while walking across our campus. Walking and talking, we ignored …
: An Examined Life Today is the anniversary of an accident in which I was pretty badly hurt. As I said in a previous …
: Babel, in Paraphrase Recently I have been wandering my city with a camera and sketchbook, looking at the ways our use and …
: How Twitter Helps Me Learn And Teach A colleague asked me recently how I use social media to reach out to current undergraduates. It …
: A Pretty Good Year Last year was a pretty good year. Or at least, what I remember of it was pretty good. As my regular …
: Poem: Sage Creek One of my poems was published in the latest issue of Written River: A Journal of Eco-Poetics. It's a …
: Good Education Should Lead To Good Questions "If we treat the contemplation of the best life as a luxury we cannot afford, seemingly urgent …
: Martin Luther on Liberal Education "Therefore, I pray you all, my dear sirs and friends, for God’s sake and the poor youths’, not to …
: Thoreau on Liberal Education, Wealth, and Freedom “We seem to have forgotten that the expression "a liberal education" originally meant among the …
: Giving Thanks In The “‘What a damned country,’ he said. Watching the river, he had not noticed the …
: National Park Law - Knopf and Stegner “Those who would protect the Parks and Monuments must rest their case always on the organic law that …
: The Slow, Important Work Of Poetry At the time it seemed like chance that brought me to minor in comparative poetry in college. Without …
: Gifts From My Father My father spent his career as an engineer working for IBM and NASA. Growing up with an engineer is …
: Racism, Samaritans, and Saints As I've read news about recent protests on campuses across the country I've often wondered how I …
: The Lesser Feast of C.S. Lewis On this day in 1963, Clive Staples Lewis died. Some of us now observe November 22nd as the Lesser …
: South Fork, Eagle River After breakfast we put sack lunches in the cooler and threw our backpacks in the fifteen-passenger …
: Steinbeck on Overfishing "In about an hour we came to the Japanese fishing fleet. There were six ships doing the actual …
: What Thucydides Can Teach Us About Imperial Overreach My latest article, co-authored with John Kaag. Here's a sample: "As we dwell in our golden, Athenian …
: Is Thinking Real? Peirce On Neuro-Determinism "Tell me, upon sufficient authority, that all cerebration depends upon movements of neurites that …
: A Commercial Company Becomes A Church...And Then A Nation “When the king and High Church party under Archbishop Laud became masters of the Church of England, …
: On Church Organs and Church Music Recently I had the good fortune to hear an organ concert in Westminster Abbey. Not long afterwards I …
: Made In The Image Those who think the mind is only a calculating machine, or that thought is alien to willing and …
: Liberal Education And Freedom "We seem to have forgotten that the expression "a liberal education" originally meant among the …
: Palm Sunday and the Vocation of a Church Mercy Church, Sioux Falls, South Dakota Palm Sunday, 2015 It is often helpful to have a sense, …
: Professors of Trout In the course of writing Downstream (my book on brook trout) I did a lot of research about trout and …
: Nature As A Classroom For the last two weeks my students and I have been in Petén, Guatemala, studying the ecology of the …
: Recommended Reading: Fly-Fishing and Trout I'm preparing to teach a course on ecology and nature writing this summer in Alaska. One of the keys …
: A Visible Sign This morning my wife, my kids, and I sat around the Christmas tree and opened the gifts we gave one …
: The Best Break-Up Ever Last week my oncologist broke up with me. It was the best break-up ever. Fifteen years ago I got a …
: When The Court Will Not Give Justice “They suppressed their consciences and turned away their eyes from looking to Heaven or remembering …
: Of Men and of Angels "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but I have not love, then I have become a …
: Desmond Tutu On Descartes' Radical Individualism "Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language. It speaks of the very essence of being …
: The Trivium And The Quadrivium The Seven Liberal Arts (and their aims) At some point in the Middle Ages, through a slow process of …
: Books Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia. (On brook trout, …
: Entertaining Angels Here's my latest contribution to the Sojourners blog, a reflection on a beggar I met in Paris 25 …
: Camping With My Students: Stargazing in the Badlands Around two in the morning I awoke to the song of coyotes. I opened my eyes and looked up just in …
: How To Write Term Papers Some thoughts while grading essays: 1) Write simply. 2) Delete any unnecessary words that you don't …
: An Early Christian Philosopher on Civil Disobedience "There is never an obligation to be obedient to orders which it would be pernicious to obey." -- St. …
: Socratic Pragmatism: On Our Attitude Towards Inquiry "I do not insist that my argument is right in all other respects, but I would contend at all costs …
: Wendell Berry: Past A Certain Scale, There Is No Dissent From Technological Choice “But past a certain scale, as C.S. Lewis wrote, the person who makes a technological choice does not …
: Interview on SD Public Radio Karl Gehrke interviewed me on SD Public Radio today about my new book. We talk about the book, brook …
: Giving Our Prayers Feet The American scientist and philosopher Charles Peirce described belief as an idea you are prepared …
: From My New Book: Brook Trout In The Tellico River Brook trout Dave Tabler has posted an excerpt from my new book (co-authored with Matthew …
: Why Does A Philosophy Professor Write About Trout? My most recent book, Downstream, is about brook trout. People sometimes wonder: why on earth would a …
: The Tools That Hold Us If you equip your police with military tools, it should not surprise you to find that the police …
: More Books Worth Reading One of the great pleasures of being a teacher is reading. To do my job well, I have to read. If I …
: Downstream: My New Book On Brook Trout and Appalachian Ecology You can find it here, on the publisher's website, for a very reasonable price. It is now listed on …
: Arachno-Drama In My Backyard (WARNING: Contains spider images) Two long-jawed orb-weavers in my garden. This week I was privileged to watch a small drama acted …
: Protecting Borders, Loving Neighbors, And The Economics Of Child Migration Time Magazine reported last week that President Obama is seeking 2 billion dollars to reduce the …
: Who Are You Calling A "Hero"? Most common uses of the word "hero" fall into one of two categories: we either use it to refer to …
: The Twenty-Year Plan: Pick A Star To Steer By Often, when my students ask me what they should write their term papers about, I ask them to take …
: How to Help Ukraine: Solar Foreign Policy In today's newspaper it was announced that Russia has once again cut off natural gas supplies to …
: Charles Peirce on Transcendentalism, and the Common Good From one of Charles S. Peirce's college writings, dated 1859. At the time he was a student at …
: Theodicy and Phenomenal Curiosity I have, right now, a terrific headache. It is a long, spidery headache whose bulging, raspy abdomen …
: College Athletics: Cui Bono? This Strange Marriage of Athletics and Academics This week I've been considering the place of sports …
: College Football and Moral Education Lately I've been pondering the significance of college sports. In the United States, nearly every …
: Melville on Religion Offered without comment: “As Queequeg’s Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation, was to continue all …
: Newspapers, Sports, and Healthy Societies Everywhere I've lived I've subscribed to the local newspaper. I do so because I think it's important …
: A Lenten Meditation from Merold Westphal “If Christianity is Platonism for the masses, scientific objectivity is Platonism for the …
: Hope And The Future: An Open Letter To The President Dear President Obama, I know you've got a lot on your mind right now, and I don't envy you the …
: "Hit The Road, Philosophy" My latest article, written with John Kaag, at Times Higher Education. Here's a sample: "If …
: "Don't Be Afraid To Hire Someone Better Than You." My latest article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, about the best hiring advice I've ever …
: Minnesota Canvas I just returned from teaching a monthlong tropical ecology class in Belize and Guatemala. As I flew …
: The Place Where I Live - In Orion Magazine Here is a short piece I wrote for Orion Magazine, along with a few of my photos from around Sioux …
: The Music of the Spheres: The Sun Is A Morning Star Students in my Ancient and Medieval Philosophy class are required to spend at least four hours …
: Searching For Winter Strawberries A late October strawberry in my garden I spent my twentieth year of life in Madrid, Spain, studying …
: Walking In Nature - In Sioux Falls Cardinal in Tuthill Park, Sioux Falls Thoreau writes that not many people know the art of Walking. …
: My Backyard Ark Augustine once said that a key to his conversion was when he met St Ambrose. Augustine had regarded …
: What Are Philosophy's Flaws? Last week I suggested to one of my students that she would make a good philosophy major. A few days …
: 20,000: Two Stories Of Water Pollution In The Dakotas Two stories in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader in the past week have caught my attention. …
: In Defense of Insects Cloudless Sulphur in my asters. I'm reviewing David Clough's On Animals and I just came across a …
: Demosthenes' "Against Meidias" Tonight I am reading Demosthenes' Against Meidias. Why? Because nothing prevents me from doing so, …
: The Best Watchmen Of Our Thoughts "And, finally, I suppose they took the acropolis of the young man's soul, perceiving that it was …
: Pragmatic Stoic Theology In preparing a class on later Stoicism, I came across a passage from Cicero's De Natura Deorum, or …
: Trained By Trains - Thoreau on Technology I'm teaching Thoreau's Walden this semester, and tomorrow my class will discuss the chapter entitled …
: Not The Weapons But What They Defend My latest post at Sojourners' "God's Politics" blog: "My grandfather was a career military officer, …
: "What We Need Right Now" From my latest contribution to the "God's Politics" blog at Sojourners: "Any right-thinking stranger …
: Advice To My Son: Play, Rest, and Sing I had nineteen years to say what I wanted to say to my kids, but before the first two left for …
: Can I Ask Questions In Church? Today I heard a thoughtful, thought-provoking sermon about St Paul's Epistle to Philemon. The heart …
: The Importance of Struggling to Understand In his speech when he was awarded the Emerson-Thoreau Medal, Robert Frost made this poignant aside …
: Animal Sacrifice And Factory Farming I'm reading David Clough's On Animals, and this line reminds me that I was once taught that animal …
: Thoreau: We Still Have Choices “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation….When we consider what, to use the words of the …
: Leopold On Sport And Ethics “Voluntary adherence to an ethical code elevates the self-respect of the sportsman, but it should …
: Telling The Story Of Our Common Wealth In his essay "Common Wealth," Scott Russell Sanders quotes Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "The first man …
: Teaching Outdoors As September approaches, people keep asking me, "Are you ready to get back in the classroom?" As …
: Back To Work Restful Work I've been on sabbatical for the last academic year, andit has been a gift. I've done a …
: The Day Picasso Made Me Fall Down My latest at the Chronicle of Higher Education'sChronicle Review. The main content is behind a …
: Against Grading One of the best things to happen in my education was when I attended a school - a graduate school - …
: Because "Liberal" in "Liberal Arts" Means "Free" “The student’s freedom of mind is dangerous if what is wanted is a group of technically trained …
: Rebel Without A Camera: Museums, Images, and Memory No Flash! My old Brownie. No flash! My job as a college professor brings me to a lot of museums …
: Bless You! What should you say when someone sneezes? I've been pondering this for years. Here are my …
: Green Mountain Creek Matt and I stand thigh-deep in one of the small streams that tumble down the eastern slopes of the …
: Three Words About Writing: Plato, Emerson, Bugbee Last weekend I was at a small writing conference in Vermont, where I was asked to give a meditation …
: "Life Is Our Dictionary" "Authors we have in numbers, who have written out their vein, and who, moved by a commendable …
: A Republic Without Education “In a republic education is indispensable. A republic without education is like the creature of …
: Armed in Anxiety My article on guns, fear, and virtue ethics, now accessible at The Chronicle of Higher Education: …
: What I Wish Penn State Would Do Today Penn State, where I did some of my graduate studies, announced that they would begin making …
: Newspapers in 1854 "[The reading and thinking] class has immensely increased. Owing to the silent revolution which the …
: Co-authorship in the Humanities My friend and co-author John Kaag has just published this piece in today's New York Times. I think …
: Spring Lilacs I'm posting these photos in preparation for a summer course I'll be teaching abroad, testing how …
: Friends With Benefits: On Collaboration In The Humanities John Kaag and I wrote this article together. Which is what the article is about: collaboration in …
: Popper On The Gift Of Wonder “My first thesis is that every philosophy, and especially every philosophical ‘school,’ is liable to …
: Free Stone One spring after heavy rains had come and gone, my father and I walked the banks of the Sawkill …
: Mersenne, Education, and Intellectual "Property" French cleric Marin Mersenne was the academic journal of his day. I have heard it said that in the …
: Light Perpetual My friend Michael Foster died last night. We knew it was coming. We saw it a long way off. It still …
: Hunting, Fishing, and Climate Change Trout angling in the Black Hills of South Dakota I've been saying it to my students for years: more …
: Visual Art and the Sacred: On The Importance Of Museums I just finished writing an essay about the day Picasso made me fall down. I'm sending it off to my …
: What Jesus Didn't Say My latest contribution to Sojourners' "God's Politics" blog. Some reflections on the surprising …
: Pornography and Prayer A recent Wall Street Journal article talks about the way online pornography quickly develops new …
: Spammer, Think Of Your Soul I am barraged by spam and robocalls. Most of the email I get is spam, and similarly most of the …
: Unwritten Some of my favorite passages in any texts are about texts that cannot be read. Take the story of a …
: Plato and Aristotle on Wonder Aristotle is famously acknowledged as the author of the claim that "philosophy begins in wonder." …
: Bicycles Belong On The Road Road Rage As I've shared yesterday's story about the Sioux Falls driver who assaulted a bicyclist, …
: Bicycles, Handguns, and Cameras Get Off My Hood! I just read a post on Facebook about a bicyclist in my town who was struck by …
: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants After writing my previous post about tattoos in ancient languages, a former student reminded me that …
: Written On The Skin One of the peculiar things about teaching Greek and knowing several other ancient languages is that …
: Joy Run Yesterday we ran for joy. About eighty people showed up to join me to run one-tenth of a marathon …
: Don't Worship The Monsters On the God's Politics Blog at Sojourners, my latest attempt to answer the question of what to do …
: Better Walls? It happens every time. First the violence and the national non-stop news coverage, then the calls …
: Run For Joy As I mentioned in a recent blog post, and as the Sioux Falls Argus Leader has reported, I am going …
: I Am Afraid I am afraid. Not very afraid, just a little. Mostly, I am afraid of using my days poorly. But I'm …
: Run For My Life Yesterday I went for a run. I'm not much of a runner, but it seemed like a good response to the …
: My Two-bit Prayers Today I sent a a picture of a quarter to my daughter's mobile phone. Since she went off to college …
: Scripture's Trajectory: You Are Known; Be Holy Everybody interprets texts. Interpreting texts means, among other things, determining the trajectory …
: Vertical Art An article in the BBC today reports that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt wants greater regulation of …
: Hid In My Heart Before my friend's father died, he had a stroke that left him mostly without words for a few weeks. …
: Surveillance and Virtue The recent news that a no-fly zone was enacted over the site of the Exxon tar sands pipeline spill …
: All The Mountains Are Underground Here Sunset over the Yellowstone River Perpetual Motion As the sun sets it sends its last rays shooting …
: Scientia Cordis Bear with me for a moment while I speak in Latin. This is a passage Charles Peirce cites in several …
: Should I Go To Grad School In The Humanities? I have a great job. But it's not one I encourage others to pursue. While I'm not getting rich …
: NEH Summer Institute on Transcendentalism How I'll be spending part of my summer.
: Secular Liturgy Last night I attended the Maundy Thursday service at our church. I admit I'm not a fan of sitting …
: My Dad Is So Cool Between 1959 and 1962 my dad worked for NASA. He was an engineer at IBM, who contracted him out to …
: Is Philosophy Useful? What can you do with a philosophy major? William James quipped that philosophy "bakes no bread." …
: The Pastoral And The Personal In Theodicy Theodicies, like some virtue ethics and certain ontological arguments, are easy targets for …
: A Gift Of A Sponge My father bundled us into our hats and coats and then into his little red VW and drove us to the …
: Love One Another: Prisons and Devotion to Enemies In his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, Dr. King wrote "We adopt the means of nonviolence because …
: Do Birds Need Ornithologists? Cooper's hawk in my backyard. A number of times in the last few years I've read statements by …
: Drones and Virtue My latest article, on UAV (drone) warfare and virtue ethics, co-authored with John Kaag. It's behind …
: So, How's The Sabbatical Going? That's a question I've been hearing a lot this year, and understandably so. Most of my friends and …
: The Purpose of Profits Today I spoke with a young entrepreneur I know. He has built a thriving business that provides …
: Empire and Total War I just read an article that asks why there is a rise in suicides among members of the U.S. military …
: Guns and Aesthetics A number of times in the last few months the issue of aesthetics and firearms has arisen, notably in …
: Proofs of God's Existence Every time we encounter a proof of God's existence or non-existence, we should use it as an …
: C.S. Lewis On Astro-Ethics The field of ethics in astrobiology and space exploration is small but growing. Does anyone own the …
: The Other Drones Problem: The Tragedy of the Unexplored Commons John Brennan's nomination hearings brought about a slew of articles about drone warfare. On the one …
: Happy Praise I recently read this line in the Book of Common Prayer, in the BCP's translation of the Phos Hilaron …
: Have We Met? This weekend I found myself standing next to an older woman I've met a number of times before. For a …
: Pragmatist Scripture: Peirce and The Book of Acts A few months ago a friend who is interested in both scripture and philosophy asked me which …
: The Cost of War What is the true cost of war? It is not the cost of the materiel, training, salaries, and post-war …
: All Your Deeds I just readthe seventy-third psalm. I don't understand much of it, but it begins with a complaint …
: Worries Incompatible With Wisdom Here is a thought-provoking perspective on the value and aims of studying the liberal arts. Imagine …
: Steinbeck and Greene On Respect For Enemies These two passages seem like they ought to be put together somehow. The first is from Steinbeck, the …
: Epimenides, Or Religion Without Metaphysics This week I've been reading and re-reading Howard Wettstein's The Significance of Religious …
: An Ounce Of Prevention An old Chinese legend tells about a man who was searching for the world's greatest physician.* He …
: The Howler Monkeys of Petén, Guatemala Each year I co-teach a January-term class on tropical ecology in Guatemala and Belize. One of the …
: Re-entry: Bringing It Home After Studying Abroad In one of my last posts, I talked about what you should do when you come home from study abroad. We …
: Try To Understand One Another “Try to understand one another. You can’t hate men if you know them.” John Steinbeck, From his …
: When You Come Home From Studying Abroad It being the end of our January term, Augustana College students have just returned from studying …
: Wettstein on Narrative Theology I have occasionally written about theology and theomythy in this blog. And in my book From Homer To …
: On Creeds "Creeds are better sung than signed.” -- F.F. Bruce, quoted by Robert Gundry, his doctoral student, …
: Scholia, Essays, and Education Over the years several of my Jewish teachers have reminded me that the most important part of the …
: Librarians: Saving The Past, Saving The Future This week in Timbuktu terrorists fleeing French forces torched an ancient library, destroying …
: Drawing Outside The Lines: Marginalia and E-Books I was an early adopter of the Kindle, but I stopped using it several years ago. The books I most …
: Locking Up The Neighbors This week the South Dakota Senate made a good decision for a bad reason. The Senate approved a …
: Finding One's Way: Three Questions About Vocation My students often ask me, "What should I do with my life after I graduate?" The simple answer I …
: Rejoice! When I was an undergraduate studying Classical Greek, one of the first Greek words I learned from …
: Suspicion And Society "If the officers and soldiers are suspicious of each other, warriors will not join up."* ***** * …
: The Virtue of Virtue Virtue ethics is problematic. It certainly is helpful at times, but it is not helpful when it names …
: Evolution and Education Sometimes I meet students who are afraid that evolutionary science poses a threat to their belief in …
: Safe and Sound: Guns, Fear, and Virtue What do guns do for us? Do guns make our lives better, or do they just make us feel stronger and …
: The Moral Issue Of Land In my daily readings a while back I came upon this: "[The prince] is to give his sons their …
: Secret Poison South Dakota's Attorney General announced today that he wants the state legislature to protect the …
: What Philosophers Do Sometimes, when people ask me what I do, I am a little hesitant to tell them that I am a philosophy …
: One Reason I Love Winter Morning frost
: Writing, Law, and Memory in Ancient Gortyn In the ruins of Gortyn, in central Crete, some of the famous ancient laws of Crete are preserved in …
: Books Worth Reading After my recent post about great books, pedagogy and hope I've had some queries about what I'm …
: Shakespeare's Sonnets, And Rieden's "Sonnet Number Six" Back in the late '90s my classmate Charles Rieden complained to our Dean at St John's College that …
: Great Books, Pedagogy, and Hope Great Books and the Great Conversation About fifteen years ago I enrolled in the "Great Books" M.A. …
: The Idolatry of Fear Let me start with some rough definitions: by worship I mean ascribing worth to something, to the …
: The Last Time I Saw Mingus The Last Time I Saw Mingus The last time I saw Mingus He stood in his driveway, across from ours …
: A Poem As I Approach Gaudete Sunday Advent Consider the angels. Because maybe the broken men get too much attention. Drunk with power …
: Charles Peirce on Criminal Justice I have posted briefly about Peirce's interest in criminal justice before. I haven't time to comment …
: Prayer and Forgiveness Years ago I was wronged by someone I worked with. The details don't matter, because as Viktor Frankl …
: The Course Of Nature and Laws of Nature As part of the sabbatical leave I am currently enjoying I am spending a lot of time reading ancient …
: Charles Peirce's Version Of The "Lord's Prayer" Charles Peirce's writings frequently touch on religious topics. As Douglas Anderson, Michael Raposa, …
: Look Up! Just saw this over at Slate and had to post it here. It's a beautiful animation of a full year of …
: Social Media As Lessons In Writing I sometimes suspect that when my colleagues find out that I am on Twitter (@davoh) they decide to …
: Is It Time For A New Transcendentalism? For the last few weeks I have found myself returning to this question: Is it time for a new …
: If I had another daughter I think I would like to name her Malala.
: Watching Out For One Another Something that has struck me lately, a new way (for me, at least) to think of some ancient religious …
: Reluctant Prayer I do not like to pray, but I think prayer is important. Of course, "prayer" can mean many different …
: Home and Hospitality A friend asked me today to explain what I mean by "home" in a sentence or two. This is too tall an …
: Boredom and Curiosity - My Talk To The Class of 2016 This year I had the rare privilege of giving the Convocation Address to our new students. Here's a …
: Future Hopes, Present Experience, and the Wisdom of the Past A reflection on Henry Bugbee's Inward Morning, his entry dated Friday, September 5. Bugbee writes: …
: Sorcery and Pollution In the Apocalypse of St John on Patmos, he writes that some will be excluded from heaven by their …
: Philosophy Begins in Wonder Aristotle famously remarked that the love of wisdom - philosophy - begins in wonder. This is …
: Faith, Hope, and Certainty “Certainty may be quite compatible with being at a loss to say what one is certain of. Indeed I …
: The Comfort of Certainty "Only once, as far as I remember, in all my lifetime have I experienced the pleasure of praise--not …
: Bugbee and the Tillage of the Soul In the opening entry of The Inward Morning, Henry Bugbee writes “I have yet to discover how to say …
: "Come, Let Us Reason Together": Thinking About God A student in my philosophy of religion class recently asked me, "Do we really need to put this much …
: "To have more is not to be more" In Lewis's novel Out of the Silent Planet, the antagonist Weston attempts to explain why his …
: Crime, Punishment, and the Great Community How should we treat criminals? "The reply is: Treat them as if you loved them." -- Charles S. …
: Peirce's Parable of the Puritan Peirce once wrote a school-essay responding to a prompt that asked whether there was any valid …
: Puritans and Vaccinations In light of recent political debates in the United States, this seems worth noting: the Puritan …
: Scientia Cordis "Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts." -- Charles Peirce, …
: Do You Know The Phase Of The Moon? I like to begin my class on ancient and medieval philosophy with two questions: (1) Do we know more …
: The Ethics of Hunting According to the myth, Actaeon the hunter was turned into a stag and torn to pieces by his own dogs. …
: People Of The Waters That Are Never Still Generations ago, one of my European grandfathers and one of my Native American grandmothers married, …
: Taxing Mileage Several recent news articles have mentioned the possibility of taxing miles driven rather than (or …
: Pay-to-Play and Democracy A South Dakota legislator has proposed that SD schools can save some money by introducing …
: Wittgenstein, contra Hawking Stephen Hawking recently said that philosophy is "dead" because it simply hasn't kept up with …
: No Room In The South Dakota Inn? An unjust and ironic law. Manny Steele and two other SD legislators are apparently proposing that we criminalize hospitality. …
: Reading and Writing and Gratitude It’s easy to get too busy to read, and too busy to write. My sporadic blog posting reflects …
: On Writing Philosophy Essays Writing a philosophy paper? Here are a few phrases you should probably avoid: 1) “Socrates* …
: They Know It When They See It An inmate in the South Dakota State Penitentiary has been denied access to art-instruction books …
: St. Nicholas Society and "un-stealing" I just read an article about German Catholics wanting a Santa Claus-free Christmas this year. It …
: New Bio-Itzá Website! Check it out. The Asociación Bio Itzá does great, inexpensive Spanish-language immersion programs …
: On Enemies Just heard a very thought-provoking talk by Augustana Professor Janet Blank-Libra on the story of …
: Sam Harris Needs A Mirror Sam Harris recently tweeted this column by Nicholas Kristof, adding this tag: “Found: the most …
: Respect for laws and Respect for the Law I don’t tend to talk about politics - at least not about specific candidates - on my blog or …
: Is Prayer "Effective"? I recently read a short essay that described prayer as something that should best be studied by the …
: "I Know That I Don't Know"? If you stroll through the Plaka tourist district in Athens, you'll have ample opportunities to buy …
: Theology and Theomythy I was just reading Jamie Smith’s recent post on “Poetry and the End of Theology” …
: On Traveling and Journaling It's been too long since I've blogged. My excuse? I've been traveling a lot, including quite a bit …
: Learn Spanish in Guatemala, Help Save the Rainforest Immersive Spanish language learning in Guatemala’s Asociación Bio-Itzá supports cultural …
: Come Along, Inspector Jesus? When my youngest son was still quite small, he loved the Advent hymn, “Come Thou Long Expected …
: More on Letters of Recommendation and Lying I’ve been busy this month with writing letters of recommendation for my students - more than …
: Do Philosophy Classes Have "Labs"? When I was preparing to go to grad school I was torn between two choices: Ph.D. in marine/riparian …
: Mike Wanous, Great Professor! Augustana College Biology Professor Mike Wanous has once again lived up to Augie’s slogan …
: Google Wave and My Course in Greece Each year I teach a course in Greece, and I require my students to make presentations at a variety …
: IAPS meeting at APA in NYC, December 2009 In case you’re interested in the philosophy of sport: IAPS meeting at APA in NYC
: John E. Smith, RIP I just heard the very sad news that John E. Smith, a past president of the Charles S. Peirce …
: I Cannot Tell A Lie American mythology tells us that Washington said that. Of course, if someone says "I never lie," you …
: Socrates and the Trees It's always dangerous to assume one knows what Plato thinks, since Plato goes out of his way not to …
: Lying and Letters of Recommendation Each fall I write a lot of letters of recommendation for my students. This fall is no exception. In …
: More fun with logic Here’s another little bit of fun with logic for my students. What, if anything, is wrong with …
: How can you know that someone is contrite? For the last few weeks my ethics students have been studying forgiveness. One of the persistent …
: Gratitude It being Thanksgiving, I’m doing some reading about gratitude. Just read through part of …
: Reading the Holidays This Thanksgiving holiday I've just re-read Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation of Thanksgiving and I …
: Love Is In The Air For my students, a little fun with logic. Consider the following syllogism. Does the conclusion (3) …
: Two kinds of ducks Recently I was speaking with some students about environmental philosophy, and about the ethical …
: Desmond Tutu and The Most Subversive Thing Around “We were inspired not by political motives. No, we were fired by our biblical faith. The Bible …
: The Best Rule in Writing "The best maxim in writing, perhaps, is really to love your reader for his own sake." Charles S. …
: Every Time You Open A Prison... …you close a school." - Victor Hugo. “Why is it considered morally offensive and …
: Using God As A Weapon? Gandhi once wrote that “the Satyagrahi’s only weapon is God.” (A Satyagrahi is one …
: Russell Frank and the 4/40 Program One semester when I was in grad school at Penn State I was assigned to teach a course called "Media …
: Philosophy and Empty Deceit From today’s Lectionary, a reading from Colossians 2: “See to it that no one takes you …
: Latin American Philosophy Online Soon I hope to be able to point you to the online presence of the Inter-American Philosophic Review, …